Enzymes are, proteins, with specific and selective catalytic activity that sustain life in living things. They simply gear up the reaction without affecting other functions. Due to which, the biocatalytic uses of enzymes have grown vastly in recent years for commercial and industrial importance. Microorganisms, such as bacteria can also be used as a source of enzymes by manipulating their genetic structure with desirable characteristic and is the major concern of modern biotechnology. Such enzymes are known as Microbial Enzymes. Microbial Enzymes are more active and stable than plant and animal enzymes. Hence several industries are looking for new microbial strains in order to produce different enzymes to fulfill their enzyme requirements by culturing them in large quantities. Additionally, the substrates used in the cultural medium are sustainable and industrial residuals can be used to produce value-added products.
More than 200 enzymes (for eg. amylase, glucose isomerase, protease, urokinase, peroxidase etc) have so far found many practical applications and are produced by genetically modified microorganisms like fungi, yeast and bacteria. The main industries that apply microbial enzymes are the food, textile, leather, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, fine chemicals, energy, biomaterials, paper, cellulose and detergent industries. Immobilization processes allow the reuse of these enzymes and increase stability.
In this issue, the use of microbial enzymes in industrial applications, biofuel production and plastic degradation are included. Few stories about microorganisms in climate change and other interesting facts about microbial enzymes are also included.
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